Rice-stuffed pumpkin

29-Mar-2016

Pumpkin and rice? Together? If you aren’t already sold… I don’t know what you’ve been eating so far. Do you by any chance get as giddy and excited as we do when you hear the word rice? As huge fans of rice, but also lovers of a good pumpkin, we just had to love this concoction. The soft and rich fruit brimming with delicate and fragrant rice takes the combination of sweet and savoury to a whole new level of exquisiteness: delicious!

To begin with, we need to preheat the oven to 200°C or 390°F and to clean the pumpkin.

Start by cutting it in half and scooping out the seeds using a spoon.

Once that’s done, remove some of the pulp from the halves, to create some space to accommodate the rice later on.

Now, place the cleaned halves onto a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper, place a rosemary sprig in each half, and bake them for about 30 minutes, or until properly cooked.

For the rice, simply cook it as instructed on the packet.

For the filling, Dice the onion and roughly chop the parts of the pumpkin you removed earlier.

Place a pan – preferably non-stick – over a medium heat, tip in the onions, a touch of water, and cook the onions for about two minutes or until translucent.

Next, add in the pumpkin pieces and cook the ingredients together for another five minutes or until the pumpkin is thoroughly cooked. You can add more water if needed.

Now, you can add in the other ingredients – the olives, the prepared horseradish, and the parsley – and stir them in.

Add the rice to the pan and stir it in to complete the filling. Also remember to taste the final filling and adjust the salt if necessary.

As soon as the pumpkin is cooked, remove the rosemary from the inside, and fill the halves with the rice to complete the recipe.

Substitutions and Tips

The butternut squash can be replaced by any other kind of pumpkin you like; as long as it is of the right size to accommodate the rice and also that you adjust the cooking time according to the size of the fruit.

If you don’t have the prepared horseradish, don’t worry! You can omit it or substitute it with an equal amount of vegan yogurt, vegan mayo or with a small quantity of prepared mustard or even wasabi, for the most fearless of us.

When it comes to the rice, feel free to use any kind you want, being it whole grain, long, short or else. The rice can also be substituted with other grains.